


Tidal Waves

by Paper__Moons



Category: All Time Low
Genre: Alex is kinda depressed, All Time Low (Band) - Freeform, Jalex - Freeform, LGBTQ Character, M/M, Mentions of Tom Gaskarth, Tidal Waves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-20 13:48:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9494162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paper__Moons/pseuds/Paper__Moons
Summary: -Also On Wattpad-Jack Barakat has just moved to a new neighborhood, the same neighborhood as a boy called Alex Gaskarth - who has lived in the same house all his life.Alex is slowly coping with the loss of his best friend - who just so happened to be his brother- and he now no-longer wants to attempt to make friends. Then he meets Jack, and he slowly gets better.





	1. Chapter 1

The hardest thing for Alex to do, was not give in and close his eyes, he needed to stay awake, just for one more day. At least, that's what everyone kept telling him. He had nothing left to stay awake for. The only person who was worth staying for had left his life a few years ago, he has no-one now.  
Alex sighed and grabbed his guitar before stepping out of his window and onto the roof of his house. He sat down on the top of his house and started playing the intro of an original song called Therapy.  
By the end of the song he had tears streaming down his face. He put his guitar to the side and wiped his tears before looking up to the sky. He hummed the lyrics to I Miss You while allowing the tears to flow freely down his face.  
He audibly sighed and got up, grabbing his guitar and heading inside.

A few streets away, a boy named Jack was sat on the roof of his house, staring up at the stars. He hated the day, it was full of suffering and hatred. The night was full of silence and beauty. Jack felt as though he was only ever himself during the night. The peace and moonlight made him feel alive in a way that the day had never done.  
The silence was broken by a very quiet sound of an acoustic guitar, it was coming from a few streets away from Jack. He frowned slightly as the song ended and there was silence once again. Every once in a while he'd hear that guitar, it didn't sound happy though, it sounded as though whoever was playing it was in a lot of emotional pain.  
Eventually Jack heard his mom yell for him to go and eat, so he climbed back inside. But not before doing what he does each night he hears the guitar, sending a paper plane in the direction of the sound.


	2. Chapter 2

Alex was never one to enjoy school, but he hated it even more after what had happened a few years ago; his only friend, who just so happened to be related to him, closed his eyes for the final time, but he still had to go to school and listen to the other teenagers talk about him as if he wasn't in the room. Summer had just ended, he hoped that a new year would mean new focuses for everyone else but he knew that it wouldn't happen.  
Alex forced himself to get out of bed and got changed into a Green Day t-shirt and a pair of jeans. The brown-haired boy grabbed a grey hoodie and slipped it on before putting his shoes on and slowly walking down stairs and into the kitchen, where he grabbed some toast, quickly eating it and running out of the door, yelling a goodbye to his mom as he grabs his backpack. He sprints to the school, just in time for the school bell to ring, signaling that all students should be in homeroom. Alex walked as fast as he could to get to homeroom. He made it just before his homeroom teacher got there. He headed to the back of the class, stopping as he saw that there was a black haired boy sitting in his usual seat. He sighed and slowly walked over to the boy, planning to ask him to move. "Uh, sorry to bother you but you're in my seat"  
The boy looked up and smiled softly. "Oh sorry, do you want me to move?"  
Alex nodded slightly and the boy nodded, getting out of the chair and sitting beside the boy - Alex was sure his name was Rian - who he was speaking to. Alex mumbled a thank you and sat down. The boy who had taken his seat was obviously new, and quite attractive - although Alex wouldn't admit it. The teacher began to call out the names. "Jack Barakat?"  
That was a new name to Alex. The black haired boy in front of him called out a quiet "here"  
"Rian Dawson?"  
The boy who was sat beside Jack spoke "here"  
A few more names were called out, including Alex's and another new person's - his name was Zack Merrick- and the people who Alex was used to. Eventually, the bell rang and Alex bolted out of the door, heading to his music class.  
He turned around to see that Jack, Rian and Zack were following him. He rolled his eyes, probably wanting to make fun of him already. He quickly ran to music, not wanting to hear people talk about the people who he loved that left him.  
Eventually everyone had made it to music and they had been assigned a task to write a song. Alex smiled, he'd probably just play Therapy or Lullabies. Everyone went their seperate ways to write and practise their songs. Alex immediately started playing therapy, not noticing a head of a certain boy turn his way.  
Alex quietly started singing along to his song, willing himself not to cry as he sung. As the song ended, he looked up and noticed three boys looking his way. He cursed under his breath as he slowly waited for them to talk about how terrible it was, but it never happened.  
The three boys - Jack, Rian and Zack - had moved closer to him. Alex took a shaky breath, still recovering from willing himself not to cry.  
Jack took a breath before begining to speak.


	3. Chapter 3

"Did you write that song by yourself?"

Alex froze, he didn't know whether he'd be able to speak - he hadn't preformed in front of anybody since him - so he just nodded and Jack smiled. "You're really good at singing and playing guitar, by the way"

Rian then chimes in "I agree, your voice is great", Zack nods too, and Alex quickly picks up on the fact that Zack doesn't like to speak much.

Alex takes a breath and speaks "Thanks...I-I don't really sing in front of people that often so I don't really get told that"

Jack smiles "Do you mind if we sit beside you?"

Alex shakes his head and begins to strum random chords on his acoustic. The stumming quickly turned into I Miss You by Blink-182 and Jack, Rianand Zack's eyes immediately lit up.  
"You listen to Blink?," Jack nearly yelled those four words, startling Alex in the process.

The latter nods softly and a comfortable silence falls again, quickly broken by the sound of Alex's guitar and humming, Rian quickly joining in with drumming on the plastic chair.  
Zack quickly walks away and comes back a few seconds later with an amp and a bass guitar, plugging the bass into the amp. Jack then runs off and gets two electric guitars - one for himself and one for Alex - and two leads. He plugs both guitars in and hands one to Alex, who quickly takes it and begins to strum I Miss You again.  
Soon, Alex starts quietly singing along and Zack joins in, singing melodies from time to time. Alex smiles and the four continue to play the song.  
Eventually, the song comes to an end, with the last chord being stummed and the last words leaving Alex's lips.  
The four boys didn't realise it at the time, but the entire class had turned to listen to them playing. Alex quickly realises and blushes, remembering that he had been singing in front of about 20 people and he hadn't even thought about it. He looked down and started playing with his hands, biting his lip softly as he tries to will all the faces to look in the other direction.

Eventually, the bell rings and Alex quickly packs up the equipment, grabs his bag and rushes out the door, desperate to get to the cafeteria so he could spend his next two free periods by himself listening to music and writing songs that will never get sung or letters that will never get read by anyone but him.  
Alex arrived at the cafeteria and quickly spotted a rare empty table, he quickly sat at it and pulls out his notebook, phone and headphones. He plugs the headphones in and begins to play Anathema by Twenty One Pilots on the highest volume. He grabs a pen and begins to continue to write a song that had been abandoned after only a few lines. Alex read over the words  
'Manage me I'm a mess  
Turn a page I'm a book, half unread.  
I wanna be laughed at, laughed with, just because.  
I wanna feel weightless and that should be enough'  
He smiled, still liking the lyrics. More lyrics quickly flood his brain.  
' Maybe it's not my weekend, but its gonna be my year.  
I've been going crazy I don't wanna waste another minute here'  
I'm so sick of watching while the minutes pass as I go nowhere  
And this is my reaction  
To everything I fear.'  
He shakes his head, slowly deciding to put the line 'I've been going crazy, I don't wanna waste another minute here' after 'To everything I fear'.  
He sighs, looking over the text, unsure of if there should be something inbetween the two paragraphs.  
He nods to himself and quickly looks through his notebook, immediately finding an unused paragraph.  
'But I'm stuck in this fucking rut,  
Waiting on a second hand pick me up  
And I'm over getting older.  
If I could just find the time,  
I would never let another day go by  
I'm over getting old'  
He decides to put that verse in-between the two paragraphs of text, quickly deciding to make the last paragraph of text the chorus.  
Alex grins and changes playlists to a playlist featuring Blink-182 and Green Day.  
He hums along quietly as the bell rings, smiling as he remembers that he has another free period.  
As students walk past, the music blaring in his ears drown out nearly all the noise made by them, he continues to write, listening to the muffled whispers of the students passing him.


	4. Chapter 4

Alex sighed as he walked home, school had ended about 20 minutes ago and Alex had spent all that time wandering around the streets he knew so well. He had music blasting in his ears and he didn't notice that tears were falling down his face. He begun to shake from the cold, even though he was wearing a hoodie with the sleeves down.

He eventually reached his house and immediately headed upstairs to his room. Nobody was home, his parents were working and his brother was...  
Alex shook his head at the thought, he needed to stop thinking these things, its the reason he can't sleep at night. He heads into his room and throws his backpack across the room, his anger became apparent yet he didn't know why, he wasn't angry 10 minutes ago but he was now. He cursed under his breath and grabbed his acoustic, quickly tuning it before opening his window and stepping onto the roof, quickly making his way up onto the ledge above his window. He sat down and begun playing a song by Marianas Trench called 'Alabis'. He quietly sung along and by the end he was crying.  
There were days where he could relate so much to this song, and as much as he wouldn't admit it, he needed to sing the song or else he didn't feel like he was normal.  
After the song his guitar was abandoned beside him and his arms were on his lap, holding up his head as he sobbed. Eventually he calmed down enough to pick up his guitar and head inside, where he left the window, closed the blinds, got changed into pyjama pants and a grey t-shirt before turning off the light and just laying in the dark, allowing all the thoughts to just run through his mind and all the while, he just cried. He was letting his emotions come out, something that he doesn't do much of these days. Being a kid was so much easier, you didn't have to worry about getting a job, or exams, or relationships. Nowadays Alex just feels like he wants to cry and go back in time, maybe to stop his brother from doing what would later ruin Alex, or maybe to just have no worries for at least a day.  
He was sobbing by this point, but he didn't care. The darkness was filling him and he wanted it to leave but it was as if the only way he knew how was to cry and think.  
He needed to find his place in the world somehow. He wanted - no; needed - to.  
Alex felt his eyelids grow heavy and he yawned - slowly grabbing a blanket and pulling it over himself before allowing the darkness that is known as sleep consume him.


End file.
